A teacher has certain roles, responsibilities and boundaries which can be best examined and explained by the use of a teaching / training cycle as in the diagram below.
Teaching / Training Cycle
Identifying The Needs Of Learners
In order to assess learner’s needs it is important to be able to identify what learning needs may already exist and what to look out for in a learner. Gathering information about the number of participants attending, their educational, cultural and professional backgrounds, their existing knowledge, attitudes & skills and their expectations can be of great benefit in planning a course. Things like application forms, initial literacy & numeracy tests, customer information sheet and these pre-course communications offer an opportunity to gain an insight if a learner needs any additional support such as literacy or numeracy help, or with English if it is their second language, any physical disability a learner may have, and mental barriers a learner may have, i.e. dyslexia.
“Learners’ needs” has been described as the gap between where a student is now and where they want to get to, but more than this it’s the identification of what criteria need to be dealt with in order to help a person gain the learning outcomes they are seeking. – Ref Simon Smith City & Guild 7404 Level 4 certificate in Further Education & Training.
Designing Materials and Resources
It is the role and responsibility of a teacher to make sure that all learning styles (i.e. kinaesthetic, aural and visual) are covered, no matter what resources are used, to meet the different needs of the learners and the learning process. Effectiveness of resources should always be evaluated in order to improve or change them accordingly for future progression. A teacher needs to be clear on the course content, what do you want the learners to be able to do and how you are going to get them to achieve their aims, standards and criteria.
Delivering The Course
Prior to delivering the course certain aspects should be taken into consideration. Aspects such as Health & Safety issues of the company that all staff and learners alike must adhere to. Make sure that all the materials and resources are prepared, ready the signing registers, ground rules are set and clearly outlined, and have some sort of a contingency plan just in case things don’t all work out as it should. While delivering the course, the teacher should also take professional boundaries into consideration within which to work and it is important not to overstep these. Boundaries such as invading people’s personal spaces and knowing where your role as a tutor stops.
Assessing and Evaluating
Assessing the learners’ continuing needs to find out if learning has taken place and one way of doing this is by method of COIPU – Continue Only If Previously Understood. The teacher has a responsibility to know more about the subject than the learners. After every session it is important that as a teacher, you reflect on what you have delivered and learnt from it all, so you may initiate change or amend course, update own knowledge and skills or pick up ideas to design another course.